


Keith Genuary Day 26: Lance

by sunshinehime



Series: Keith's Gen-Uary Event 2019 [15]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adventures with Kaltenecker, Gen, Keith & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Supportive Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-17 07:16:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17555798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinehime/pseuds/sunshinehime
Summary: “Fine, okay I get it but still, you should be grateful I came to get you,” and Lance rests one hand on his hip for emphasis. “You need a break from all that training and flying and I have just the thing.” He lifts the other hand holding the empty milk bucket. “We’re gonna milk Kaltenecker together!”





	Keith Genuary Day 26: Lance

**Author's Note:**

> My two stupid boys, bonding so nicely. And over milking a cow, who would have thought.

Throughout the first year spent in the Castle of Lions, Keith may have been the group’s stoic but at least -- despite his constant training -- he would still make time to sit in the lounge with the others, hang out in the kitchen, or just freely wander the halls.

Now that Shiro’s gon-- _disappeared_ , Keith does exactly two things: train and search for Shiro. Hunk practically has to force him to eat and even then it’s the bare minimum.

Well Lance is sick of it, of seeing the bags grow heavier and darker under Keith’s eyes, of him fighting training bots until he can barely stand, of him piloting his Lion for hours and nearly collapsing as he leaves the hangar.

So he’s gonna do something about it. Which is easier said than done, since every other attempt by anyone to get him to socialize has been met with either silence or a blunt rebuff. But inspiration strikes him, as he makes his way to Kaltenecker for some fresh milk as requested by Hunk.

Lance doubles back and nearly breaks out in a run, heading toward the training room on a hunch. It turns out to be on the money as he sees Keith engaged in intense combat with the gladiator robot.

“End training sequence!” Lance times it so the robot disappears just as Keith aims a forward slash with his bayard, causing him to overbalance and tumble over. Lance can’t help but laugh as he strolls in the room, which gets even louder once he gets a look at Keith’s hilariously cartoonish expression: a mix of surprise, anger, and offense.

“You’re such a Quiznacking asshole Lance!”

Lance wipes the tears from his eyes, laughter dying down to mere chuckles. “C’mon Mullet, I was just messing with you.” Keith merely growls in response.

“Fine,  _okay_  I get it but still, you should be grateful I came to get you,” and Lance rests one hand on his hip for emphasis. “You need a break from all that training and flying and I have just the thing.” He lifts the other hand holding the empty milk bucket. “We’re gonna milk Kaltenecker together!”

Keith glares at him and crosses his arms. “I don’t have time for that Lance. I have better things to do than milk  _cows_.”

“Actually now you don’t. ‘Cause otherwise I’ll tell Pidge to lock the training room from you for a week.” Keith’s eyes widen to saucers and Lance has to bite down another laugh. “You  _wouldn’t_.”

He pretends to examine his nails. “Well I mean if you won’t come with me willingly then I’ll just have to play dirty.” Keith clenches his fists and jaw, grinding out a “ _fine_ ” as if it causes him physical pain.

“Perfect! Follow me then.” And Lance wraps an arm around Keith’s stiff shoulders, leading him to the barn area.

* * *

“Alright, you ready to learn how to milk a cow?” Keith keeps quiet as he stares straight ahead at Kaltenecker, who continues to chew grass as she returns his gaze, unimpressed. Undeterred, Lance leads Keith further into the barn and they both sit on the short stools in front of her.

“So first thing, we have to test out each teat to make sure her milk is clean and smooth. To do that, you wrap a thumb and forefinger in a circle around the base of it. Like so.” And Lance does this, then gently and quickly squeezes the teat to release a small squirt of milk, explaining the process as he goes. “Looks like this one is all clear. Now you try the next one Keith.”

When he doesn’t move, Lance turns to look at his face. There is a blush working its way across his cheeks, eyes shifty, and arms crossed tightly around his chest. “What’s wrong, need me to show you again?”

Keith shakes his head. “No, it’s not--I mean. Is she, like, okay with us doing this to her?”

Lance blinks once. Twice. Then a wide grin splits his face in half. “What’s wrong Keith? Wanna buy her dinner first?” Keith is cherry red and he punches Lance in the arm, who’s laughing too hard to even feel it.

With a huff Keith makes to stand up and leave but Lance clamps down on his shoulder and pushes him down into the stool. “But seriously, she’s fine. She doesn’t have the same hangups that humans do.” His face becomes a bit more serious. “Not to mention it’s important we milk her properly everyday or she could develop health problems.”

The tension slowly bleeds from Keith’s shoulders and his eyebrows rise. “Really? I didn’t know that.”

“Well it’s true, so let’s take good care of our lovely lady here.” With a wink, Lance demonstrates how to check the teat again, then walks Keith through checking the third one. He’s hesitant at first but soon adapts once he sees how little Kaltenecker cares and manages to check the fourth one with minimal help.

After Lance shows Keith how to clean the teats, they begin the actual milking process. “Just do what you did before but like, continuously. And remember to keep aiming for the bucket with each squirt.”

He helps him adjust his grip and milking technique, then watches as Keith slowly fills the bucket with milk. The silence between them is warm and natural as they work. To Lance’s surprise Keith is the one to break it first.

“I never expected you to know how to milk a cow of all things.”

Lance hums as he watches Keith’s work. “My family owns a small farm back in Varadero, so I grew up doing all this pretty much everyday.”

Keith stops and faces Lance, his expression resembling awe of all things, and it throws Lance for a loop. “Wow, I had no idea. Makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it.”

That peaks Lance’s curiosity. “Here lemme take over that,” and he switches places with Keith, continuing the milking process. “And what do you mean, ‘it makes sense’?”

“Well, I noticed that you get up early in the morning pretty easily. And you have no trouble keeping up with Coran’s daily cleaning schedule for the Castle, despite it taking nearly three varga to finish. You’re good with heavy lifting and then there’s this.” He gestures to Kaltenecker. “So yeah, makes sense.”

Lance is stunned at the rush of information about him, from Keith of all people. At this point he’s milking on autopilot. “You seriously noticed all that? About me?”

Keith blinks, seemingly confused at the question. “Why wouldn’t I? We’ve been together for a year now. I mean you guys are kinda my friends an’ all so I, you know….” He trails off, not willing to finish his sentence. But what he did say is more than enough for Lance. He pauses and looks right in Keith’s eyes.

“Hey, you’re our friend too. You do know that right?” Keith huffs a bit, expression dimming a bit. “Yeah, I. I know that. And I know I haven’t been so great lately.” He swallows, his adam’s apple bobbing. “So thanks, for this. I feel a little better now.”

Lance slaps him on the back. He smiles at Keith, trying to coax some light back into his eyes. “Hey don’t worry about it. We get it, you’ve been through a lot. But we’ll find Shiro, so start taking it easy. Okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it.” He tries to wave it off.

Lance puts his hand on Keith’s shoulder and squeezes it. “I’m serious Keith, we’re all worried about you.”

Keith is quiet for a long moment and Lance tries not to quail under the weight of his stare. “You’re right. I’ll try to.” Satisfied with that answer for now, since he figures they can just kick Keith into gear if he starts pushing himself again, he gets them focused on finishing their task at hand.

Once the milking is done and Kaltenecker is content with her now emptied udder, the two make their way back to the kitchen where Hunk is likely waiting.

“You know, for your first try you did pretty good.” The bucket, almost filled with milk, sloshes between them. They decided to split the weight between them, with one hand each on the handle.

“Thanks. It’s actually...not that bad. Once you get used to it.”

“Glad to hear. I guess that means Hunk has someone new to harass when he needs milk for his cooking.”

Without missing a beat Keith responds “I guess that means Hunk’s gonna find out who ate his entire chocolate cake last week.” Lance nearly stops in his tracks but is pulled along by both Keith and the bucket’s momentum.

“H-hey no need for that Keith, I was just kidding!”

**Author's Note:**

> I love these two platonically bonding, they have such good chemistry. Also I can't believe there isn't more content of Lance messing with Keith, that shit is gold.


End file.
